Hull construction of rigid airships



March 8,1927.

Filed Sept. 13, 1924 2 Sheets-Shee'bl lNvENToR l cmd CD1/Miam ATTORNEYSI 196216,50? March 81927 K. 'ARNSTEIN HULL .GONSTRUCTONQF RIGID AIRSHIPSv Filed Sept. l5, 1924 l 2 Sheets-51166112 INVENTOR Kw GLM/mw; BY

mi WW ATTORNEYS llrdtented Mar. 8, 1927.

i UNITED STATES PATENT oFFIcE KARL ARld'ST-EIII',` OF FRIEDRICHSHAFEN,GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO LUI'TSCHITFBU i ZPPELIN GESELLSCHAFT MITBESCHRANKTER HAFTUNG, OF FRIEDBICHSHAFEN,

GERMANY.

HULI CONSTRUCTION F RIGID AIRSHIPS.

i Application led September 13, 1924, Serial No. '737,595, and inGermany October 4, 1928.

'My inventionrelates to the hulls of rigid airships, which are made upof longitudinal and dcross members which constitute trusses inthemselves and are diagonally braced by l wires. I aim to improve theconstruction of such hulls, especially with regard to the outer shape ofthe ship.

According to my inventionv I provide longitudinal wires intermediate thelongllotudinal girders and parallel to them. They serve for steadyingthe outer ycover winch may be fastened not only to they longitudinalgirders, but also to such longitudinal wires-i Such wires may besupportedby spaclng `1li membersholdng them in posltion with arelationtothe vpoints of intersection of the diagonal bracing wires of the hull.In .addition supports for the longitudinal wires may be rovided byputting stirrups onthe ring gir ers over which such wires lead, and` atthose cross members where different pieces of the outer cover abut, itisuseful to provide a circumferential wire which connects the s'tirrups.'situated onV this ring, to each v other, thereby creating a goodsupport for the seam in the outer cover.

vlThe drawing represents an example em- Y bodving 'my invention.

,Fig 1 s ows' a perspective view of the ao wayv of fastening andsupporting the outer cover, looked at from the outside of/,the ship.Here part ofthe cover is broken away. Fig. 2 is a-corresponding view,but seen from a point inside of the ship.

' 35 f Fig. 3gives a plan view on an individual piece of the outercover, seen from within. Fi 4' is a cross section taken on line A-L ofFig. 3.

.-Fig. 5 is a cross section taken on line 4o B-B of Fig. 3, but on alarger scale.

' In Fig. l a piece of fabric 1 is laced to a longitudinal girder 2 Thispiece uof fabric is further on supported by a longitudinal wire 3.On'the ring girder 4 stirrups e5 suchas shown at 5 are provided. Thesestirrups have a height equal to the distance be` tween the outer chordsof the longitudinal girders and of the ring girders. Over these stirrups5 the longitudinal wires 3 lead.'

5o Y At the rings where different pieces of the nected by'a diagonalbracing, lon 'tudinal outer cover meet, a circumferential wire 6 isarranged leading over` the stirrups 5 and to this the cover pieces maybe laced by laces 7. (See Fig. 2.)

For the purpose 'of tightening the wires 3 they are attached to the"usual diagonal lracing wires 8 by means of spacing mem- Thelongitudinal wires 3 are connected with the cover by means of a ribbon10 sewn to thev fabric, which has laces 11 at regular intervals."

. It is understood that-I do not want to limit myself to the detailsdescribed or shown in the drawing as many variations will be possiblewithout diverting from the spirit of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. A rigid airshipcom'prising a hull made up of longitudinal and crossmembers connected by diagonal bracing, lon itudinal wires intermediatesaid longitudina girders and an outer cover to said hull fastened tosaid longitudinal members and steadied by said `longitudinal wires. Y

2. 'A rigid airship comprising a hull made up of longitudinal and crossmembers connnected by diagonal bracing, longitudinal wires intermediatesaid longitudinal girders and an outer cover to said hull fastened tosaid longitudinal members and to said' longitudinal wires.

3. A rigid airship comprising a hull made up of longitudinal and crossmembers conwires intermediate said longitudina girders, said wires beingst a ed by spacing members to said diagonal hu lbracing, and an outercover for said hul-l fastened to said longitudinal members and to saidlongitudinal wires. l

4. A rigid airship comprising a hull made up of longitudinal and crossmembers connected by a diagonal bracing, lon itudinal Y wiresintermediate said longitudina girders, said wires being stayed to saidcross members by means of stirrups over which said wires lead, and anouter cover for said hull fastened'to said longitudinal -members and ,tosaid longitudinal wires.

QA l V1,620,501' l n n 5. A rigid airship comprising a. hull'made planeof one of said crosse members leadingl up of longitudinal and crossmembers conover said stirrups,'"and1am outer oever! for nected bydiagonal bracing, lon -'tudinal said hull fastened to said' longitudinalmem- 10 wires intermediate said longitudina girders, bers, to saidlongitudinal wires, and to said 5 said wires being stayed to said crossmemcircumferential wire. l

bers b means of stlrrups over which said Y wires cad, a circumferentialwire in the KARL ARNSTEIN.

